Connor is 16 months old

My little baby boy turned 16 months old last weekend. It's so weird to think that he used to be curled up inside me. This is what he can do now.



Feed himself
Not very well! I have invested in a large clear plastic sheet to protect our teak dining table. He's struggling with the fork and spoon, I think it's because they're a little too long for him to balance properly but he can feed himself fine using fingers. So I try to prepare finger foods for his meals now and it's just such a thrill to see him get excited at mealtimes and reach out to feed himself fish and chips.


Scribble
He started scribbling close to his 1st birthday I think but it's only now that he's really interested in it. So Mummy's bought him some jumbo non-toxic crayons and paper. We've also gotten him a kiddie table + chair set from IKEA and it's so funny to see him sitting there looking very serious as he grabs a crayon and scrawls.


'allo, 'allo!
Boy. Was he thrilled when Telekom Malaysia came and fixed our line and gave us this bright orange phone. He played with it all day, going "...'lo? ...'lo?" He loves phones. In fact, anything that is sort of oblong in shape and has buttons on it is a phone to him. Hence he goes around the house with our remotes, the little baby thermometer, the air cond controls... and holds it up to his ear while going "...'lo?"


Talking
While not really saying 2-word sentences yet, he is saying single words. He'll refuse milk with an emphatic "Nono!" (because Mummy says Nono and not No... I find it impossible to not repeat certain words) and beg for more ice-cream with "More!" Ask Aunty M, he kept saying "More!" to her when she let him try her vanilla ice-cream. He's finally cottoned on that "More!" doesn't just apply to more food. It also applies to when he wants Mummy to make more funny faces or when he wants his favourite Mickey Mouse Youtube video repeated.
He says "Brum-brum!" for vehicles and interestingly, said the same word one day while pointing to a man in the queue ahead of us who was wearing a crash helmet. I thought that was quite significant that he was able to associate man in queue with crash helmet = man I always see riding motorbike, therefore brum-brum.
I think the funniest thing is when he does something he knows is wrong like push all his toys off the couch with a crash and he'll peer down at them and go "Uh-oh... hor (3rd sound)...." Very hard to explain. You have to be Malaysian/Singaporean to get this.


Manipulating
Not sure if it is... but whenever he can't get anything he wants from me, he'll turn away and wail, "Daddyyyyyyyyyy....". Unfortunately for him, Daddy and Mummy are usually on the same page when it comes to Stuff Connor Can't Have. But he does it anyway.
It was pretty annoying (and amusing) one day when I was doing the shopping and he wanted a toy he saw. I said no and immediately he burst into tears and wailed, "Dadddyyyyyy...." and a mum nearby couldn't help grinning.


Help me dress and undress him
...by holding out his arms and legs. He started out months with holding his arms out. He knows when Mummy says "Hands up!", it's time to put those arms up in the air so that Mummy can pull his t-shirt off. The best part is when I'm putting shoes and socks on. "Right foot!" and up comes his right foot, on goes the sock and shoe. Repeat with left foot. When I tell him I want him to sit down so that I can put his shoes on "... and go shopping!", he will come to me, turn around and carefully back himself into my arms and sit down so that I can put his shoes on. He knows Mummy is a bit of a dodo and can't put his shoes on properly when he's sitting facing me. The last time he did that, I put his left shoe on his right foot and no amount of protesting from him worked until he kicked his shoe off.


Blow a kiss
God. I tried and tried and tried to teach him this. Never worked. And guess how he finally learnt? From strangers in shopping malls who find him cute and blow him kisses. *smacks own forehead*


Sayang
Hehe. This is the Malaysian bit of Connor coming out. If you say to him "Hug mummy!", he'll have no reaction. But if you say "Sayang mummy!", he'll put his arms around me and hug me. The day he learnt how to do that, I couldn't wait for Dear Hubby to come home so that I could show him Connor could sayang Daddy.


It's so cool each time he learns something new and when I think back to his birth, it's just amazing how different he is now.